Time to end the carnage in Syria

President Donald Trump gave an inkling of a shift in the policy of restraint pursued by his predecessor in the Middle East when he ordered a guided missile attack on a military facility in Syria after President Bashar al-Assad allegedly sanctioned the use of chemical weapons against his people. It was a clear message from Trump, not only to al-Assad but to all the actors in the multi-pronged internecine war, that the use of chemical weapons, which is a violation of international laws, would not only be frowned upon, but punished under his administration.

This is indeed a paradigm shift. When a similar incident occurred in 2013, President Barrack Obama, who premised his election campaign on keeping American soldiers away from external conflicts, refrained from punishing the Syrian government, despite promising that the use of such weapons was a “red line” that should not be crossed. Casualties in that attack in which Damascus was accused of using the nerve agent, sarin gas, ranged from the initial figure of 300 released by the opposition to the 1,429 confirmed by the United States government, including 426 children.

Rather than act swiftly then to rein in al-Assad, Obama only brokered a deal in which the Syrian government gave up its presumed entire stockpile of 1,300 tonnes of chemical weapons. But failure to take punitive measures had its repercussions; further evidence has since emerged of subsequent deployment of the deadly weapons by all the sides to the conflict, including the rebels, the government and the Islamic State actors.

In fact, backed by Russian president, Vladimir Putin, al-Assad has cast caution to the winds and committed all sorts of war crimes. Russia’s show of naked power in the conflict, where its aerial power has been used to pound opposition fighters, can be rightly said to be an attempt to fill the void created by the US. Under the guise of fighting ISIS, Russian pilots have been dropping bombs in opposition-held territories, thus helping to keep their protégé in power.

The latest use of sarin last week reportedly killed over 80 people. Although the Russian government tried to explain it away as part of the arsenal of the rebels, which exploded after it was hit by a bomb, nobody has been deceived. The Americans have been able to confirm that the deadly gas was actually deployed by the Syrian forces and that is why the airfield from which the aircraft that carried out the attack took off was hit by 59 American cruise missiles.

Even Trump who had been attacking Obama’s policies and warning of the need to steer clear of the war in Syria could not but be appalled by the sight of children who were victims of the deadly gas. Describing it as an affront to humanity, the American president said, “When you kill innocent children, innocent babies, little babies … that crosses … many lines.” That is what the world needs. Even when there is the need to respect the territorial integrity of countries, sovereignty should not be seen as absolute, not when threat to humanity is involved.

America’s strike at the airfield should therefore be seen as another opportunity for a restoration of order to a chaotic situation. It should serve as a rallying point to people of conscience to come together and do something. The war has already lingered for six years and the death toll, according to the New York Times, quoting the Syrian Centre for Policy Research, was put at 470,000 as of February last year, with millions of others displaced or injured. The devastation is already unthinkable. Even the United Nations is said to have lost track of the number of deaths because its data sources are no longer reliable. The European refugee crisis is also one of the spin-offs of this senseless war.

Although the Obama administration had always spoken of a regime change in Syria, it never worked for it. The best it did was to arm the rebels in a contest that soon became one-sided once Russia joined the fray. Efforts must be made to ensure that all the external influences – especially Iran, US, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Russia, Turkey and China, all of whom are fighting a proxy war, using Syria as the battlefield – should agree to a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

Russia must also behave responsibly and stop its habit of vetoing all the United Nations resolutions aimed at punishing Syria for its irresponsible behaviour. That has been the reason for the renewed arrogance of al-Assad, who is no longer positively disposed to a negotiated settlement. This has to change. If the battle cannot be won on the field, there has to be a negotiated end to the continued loss of lives, a political solution.

The Geneva peace process remains the best chance to find an end to the Syrian carnage. This is why the Geneva conference on the crisis should be revived. There should also be commitment from all the parties and their backers. Both the opposition and the government of Syria have to make concessions for the sake of the people that are dying daily. There has to be a renewed commitment to ending the war.

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